Name: Robert Hunter
Previous title: CEO of government programs, UnitedHealthcare
New title: President, UnitedHealthcare
Hunter, who has held a variety of roles at UnitedHealthcare over the past 15 years, will take on the role of president of Minnesota-based UnitedHealth’s payer arm, he announced in a LinkedIn post on Monday.
Hunter will focus on helping UnitedHealthcare, the largest insurer in the U.S., escalate its “modernization agenda,” toward “a future where healthcare is more connected, easier to navigate and simpler to understand,” he said in the LinkedIn post. The company is in the middle of an effort to streamline and modernize patients’ digital experience with the insurer.
Hunter has held numerous roles at UnitedHealthcare over the years, most recently serving as the CEO of government programs. Before that, he had a brief stint as CEO of Medicare and retirement at the insurer, which followed a year-long appointment as president of Medicare.
Tim Noel will remain CEO of UnitedHealthcare, the company confirmed. Noel stepped into the role last year following the 2024 killing of Brian Thompson. The insurer declined to comment on its reasoning behind Hunter’s appointment.
It’s the latest leadership change at UnitedHealth, which has announced a slew of executive appointments recently. Last week, UnitedHealth appointed longtime corporate strategy exec Jodee Kozlak as its first ever chief administrative officer. Earlier this month, the company promoted Dan Kueter, CEO of its UnitedHealthcare commercial insurance division, to chief commercial officer, and tapped Brandon Cuevas to take his place.
The leadership reshuffling comes as UnitedHealth faces intense scrutiny from consumers, lawmakers and a federal watchdog as public trust in insurers drops.
In its insurance division, UnitedHealthcare is in the midst of a multi-year margin recovery plan to resuscitate profits in its MA plans. UnitedHealthcare is the largest MA insurer in the U.S., but the program has become substantially less profitable in recent years as seniors utilized more care than expected and federal pressures tamped reimbursement.
In an effort to protect margins, UnitedHealthcare exited markets, cut benefits and renegotiated some of its contracts. This year, the insurer expects to end the year with up to 1.1 million fewer MA members than last year, but those remaining members are less expensive to cover, helping UnitedHealth hike up profits.
UnitedHealth expects to be well-positioned and “very competitive” in MA next year, CFO Wayne DeVeydt said publicly last month.
